RE: FrameMaker *Community Service*

["Loren R. Needles" <lrn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 10:29 A -0400 06.07.99, Hays, Dennis wrote:

<snip>

> ...you can't fault me for trying a mercenary approach before releasing
>the > article to the public...

<snip>

Indeed, Dennis!

I certainly can and do fault you for wasting my time reading your
self-described and self-serving "mercenary approach" posted as a now
confessed, disengenuous offer of "community service".

Clearly, you ain't a bit interested in the "community" unless you can make
money with our free help. So, an accurate subject line would have been:
"Help Me Make Money" rather than your premeditated subject line choice of
"FrameMaker Community Service"

I assume you learned such disingenuous and manipulative techniques while
you were a federal employee of the IRS here in Washington.  So it is a bit
surprising you would continue to use them in spite of the recent
Congressional Hearings and virtually unanimously enacted Federal
Legislation damning such behavior of anyone at the IRS.

As for your statements, Dennis:
"...
>There has been some speculation on these forums regarding both the future of
>FrameMaker and the public relations (both good and bad) of Adobe as to the
>FrameMaker product. I wish to add the following to the latter subject and
>hopefully somewhat objectively.

Just why is it "bad" public relations if Adobe declines to publish your
particular brainstorm? I've been quoted various times on the Adobe site and
it has never occurred to me to think of Adobe as practicing good public
relations because they mentioned my name. It is even possible that the
Adobe folk decided your ideas do not merit the ink you were asking for and
their apparent receptivity was little more than good-natured kindness.

>I'd thought that there would be some kind of demand for an article that
>details the process of creating context-sensitive help items in FrameMaker
>that can be inserted into an application efficiently.

Invent a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door, eh?
There may well be folk interested in your techniques. But in these
fast-paced times, you have to SELL if you want action and a check in the
mail.  Don't expect people to jump or even return your calls just because
YOU think YOU have a great new technique. Come to think of it, has any
credible tech publisher endorsed your technique or any other technique you
have invented? If not, just what makes you think Adobe will be inclined to,
based on unproven credentials?

And, for the whiners who complain about Adobe's less-than-perfect product
development and marketing efforts. Sure, I like many of the new feature
suggestions I read on this list.  But name for me a shrink-wrapped software
vendor that does a noticeably better job.  Given the profound corporate
strategic issues at play in Silicon valley, I'm happy for all the product
performance I'm getting and the consistent improvements since version 1.5.
Others have not done so well. Anybody still using Interleaf or Ventura?

Best to all,
Lrn

PS: Dennis, please remove the duplicate addresses in your email messages.
Its a waste of bandwidth the create duplicate posts. Thanks.

At 07:46 A -0400 06.07.99, Hays, Dennis wrote:
>There has been some speculation on these forums regarding both the future of
>FrameMaker and the public relations (both good and bad) of Adobe as to the
>FrameMaker product. I wish to add the following to the latter subject and
>hopefully somewhat objectively.
>
>A few weeks ago, I contacted Tamis Nordling, Editor of Adobe Magazine,
>regarding a query for an article that I wrote (subject: Creating
>context-sensitive Help direct from FrameMaker without any third-party
>applications). Tamis responded quite quickly and, after a couple of emails,
>decided to pass on the article because of the perceived low readership by
>FrameMaker users compared with the Frame community as a whole. However, he
>did offer to contact other publishing groups within Adobe to see if there
>was any interest on their part---the web publishing group specifically.
>There has been no response from them as of this writing.
>
>I also emailed Mark and told him about the article. The last email from him
>was a suggestion that Adobe use this article as a case study. However, there
>was no direct offer from Mark or Adobe regarding this article in any form.
>
>I'd thought that there would be some kind of demand for an article that
>details the process of creating context-sensitive help items in FrameMaker
>that can be inserted into an application efficiently.
>
>Dennis
>
>Dennis Hays
>CSMS Redesign Team
>(518) 473-7362
>mailto:KK7777@dfa.state.ny.us
>
>

** To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@omsys.com **
** with "unsubscribe framers" (no quotes) in the body.   **